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Yep, as far as international goes, you want to create websites in languages that draw you the most business, so http://www.playonline.com/ comes to mind, pick a set language to view the site, those are all different websites, but http://www.aahrpp.org/ uses google translate. It's a matter of resources and budget, as well as need. If you don't have any Chinese customers, you'd be throwing money in a hole by making a Chinese site. Embedding google translate hasn't hurt anybody though, outside of the 1 sec load time :)

- Various other major bugfixes, particularly a fix to the "can't alt-tab out of full-screen mode" bug, which was present in FFXI as well.

Would people stop propagating this myth that Alt+Tab is a bug? It's not a bug and Square-Enix said so. The PC version of FFXI was intended to be full-screen only without the ability to Alt+Tab, and the linked notice clearly implies it was implemented to prevent the use of cheating tools. (The effectiveness of that is beside the point.)

I can't cite anything - its just what a friend told me (who does play).

While they do actually bill you at the beginning of the month, its actually for the previous month. Its spelled out here:

https://secure.playonline.com/supportus/rule_polmember.html - they even outline all the late fee's you'll incur when you re-activate your account (and if you search Google there are people who have complained about them - even guys who forgot they had stopped playing and paying and got calls from collection agencies for multi-figure bills). I defy you to find a WoW or Eve Online player that has gotten a late fee.

Wasn't really in fine print, found it pretty easy. http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/rule/index.html Check the Member agreement article 5a and 5c discusses fees in addition to subscription fee if you miss a payment. I'm not a lawyer, but its in the contract and if you give them access to your account/ credit card then you've agreed to their terms. If you can't be bothered to read the terms of use and user agreement then I have no sympathy, it was very easy to find once I decided to look for it. If you don't like it play any other of the 100's of MMO's that bill normally.

FFXI has hinted a few times at giving us Player Created Dungeons, but as of yet nothing so far.

I know this comment will probably get buried but I am one of the people who CAN NOT wait for MMORPGs to hit the console. I will resub EQ (or any other MMO) as soon as it will work on my PS3.

Your wait was not needed.

http://everquestonlineadventures.station.sony.com/ It's a PS2 game but works just fine on the PS3. You did do the smart thing and buy a PS3 with PS2 backwards compatibility. If you didn't, PS2's are cheap, and that'll run on a slim PS2.

It's available on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Everquest-Online-Adventures-Frontiers-Playstation-2/dp/B0000CDZB9

There's also Final Fantasy XI: http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/

You have to create a PS2 partition on your PS3 hard drive for that one, and it won't work on a slim PS2 without a hard drive.

We see unlockable demos in the shareware arena, but I don't think I've ever seen a big title go this route before, and I don't see why it hasn't happened yet.

You mean like Portal, or World of Warcraft, or Guild Wars, or Final Fantasy XI, or City of Heroes, or etc., etc.?

Atleast in FFXI there are problems with this to start off, now as a player of the game I already know how useless SquareEnix is at enforcing this rule, but those who "openly" promote within the game they are $elling get banned rather quickly.
So my question is how are you going to get around these provisions that exist within the MMO EULAs and explicitly require there players to not engage in these actions?

http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/rule/index.html

Article 3: Prohibited Activities and Indemnification
3.1 Prohibited Activities.

# Any activities consisting of selling, offering to sell, purchasing, agreeing to purchase, exchanging, or agreeing to exchange "gil" (or any other currency that may be used in the Game from time to time), characters, or Game items for value (including, but not limited to, any payment in kind and any payment in any currency recognized as legal tender in any country, state, territory or other jurisdiction anywhere in the world) through any means or venue, including, without limitation, Internet auctions or other online exchanges;

and yes... i know how much Slashdot hates EULA's too!

Other folks have covered the ALT+TAB thing, so I'll tackle a couple of other things in your post.

You do understand that all the excuses Square-Enix have given are complete bullshit, right? It's important that people realize that - preventing people from alt-tabbing does nothing to improve security. It's like those websites that prevent right-clicking to "protect their copyright", it's just plain stupid.

First, that it looks like crap: I have to disagree.

Let's compare:

FFXI Screenshot versus World of Warcraft screenshot

Keep in mind that WoW is known for having simple graphics that work on old machines. Square-Enix is nice enough to provide a benchmark program so that non-FFXI players can witness for themselves how poorly it runs on modern computers at 640x480.

What is your definition of Multiplatform, that FFXI doesn't fit into it?

Multiplatform is an application which has versions that run on multiple platforms, where each version is specifically designed to run on the platform instead of just attempting to emulate another platform. FFXI is a PS2 game, which is simply emulated on the PC and Xbox 360 as opposed to being rewritten to fully support those platforms.

Other folks have covered the ALT+TAB thing, so I'll tackle a couple of other things in your post.

You do understand that all the excuses Square-Enix have given are complete bullshit, right? It's important that people realize that - preventing people from alt-tabbing does nothing to improve security. It's like those websites that prevent right-clicking to "protect their copyright", it's just plain stupid.

First, that it looks like crap: I have to disagree.

Let's compare:

FFXI Screenshot versus World of Warcraft screenshot

Keep in mind that WoW is known for having simple graphics that work on old machines. Square-Enix is nice enough to provide a benchmark program so that non-FFXI players can witness for themselves how poorly it runs on modern computers at 640x480.

What is your definition of Multiplatform, that FFXI doesn't fit into it?

Multiplatform is an application which has versions that run on multiple platforms, where each version is specifically designed to run on the platform instead of just attempting to emulate another platform. FFXI is a PS2 game, which is simply emulated on the PC and Xbox 360 as opposed to being rewritten to fully support those platforms.

This is from the company that six years ago was boasting about doing everything online (viz, FF XI, the strategy guide for FF IX, etc.) and plastering the PlayOnline.com moniker everywhere it would fit. They don't seem to be talking about that grand plan much anymore.

Seriously, guys, all of your sequels have sucked (FFX-2, Dirge of Cerberus, etc.), and the you totally overlook the good work you've done on side-projects (e.g., all the Tactics and Kingdom Hearts games). We'll be happy if you just make a good new FF game in the main series every few years, and lay off the grand pronouncements.

Also, a new Chrono game wouldn't hurt. And maybe another Tobal or Ehrgeiz just for kicks.

I love how there seems to be no official idea on how Square Enix is supposed to be spelled.

Slashdot goes with Square/Enix.

TFA on the other hand goes with a random fix of Square-Enix and Square Enix.

Square Enix themselves, like all good trademarked brands, insists on always capitalizing it with a space: "SQUARE ENIX".

So I guess the right answer is Square Enix.

(And, because I it made me laugh while I was searching how Square Enix spelled their own name, I noticed that their MMORPG is getting the amazing ability to let you select the server you play on. I guess even their MMORPG is getting serious, gaining a feature that no other MMORPG has ever lacked.)

OTOH, MMORPG producers have pretty consistently ignored the sale of items / characters via 3rd parties. Or at least they've not been diligent enough about stamping it out and keeping it to a dull rumble.

A large MMO has actually been very proactive in stopping EULA-violating activity. Some companies just seem to care more than others about currency/item trading.

OTOH, MMORPG producers have pretty consistently ignored the sale of items / characters via 3rd parties. Or at least they've not been diligent enough about stamping it out and keeping it to a dull rumble.

A large MMO has actually been very proactive in stopping EULA-violating activity. Some companies just seem to care more than others about currency/item trading.

OTOH, MMORPG producers have pretty consistently ignored the sale of items / characters via 3rd parties. Or at least they've not been diligent enough about stamping it out and keeping it to a dull rumble.

A large MMO has actually been very proactive in stopping EULA-violating activity. Some companies just seem to care more than others about currency/item trading.

OTOH, MMORPG producers have pretty consistently ignored the sale of items / characters via 3rd parties. Or at least they've not been diligent enough about stamping it out and keeping it to a dull rumble.

A large MMO has actually been very proactive in stopping EULA-violating activity. Some companies just seem to care more than others about currency/item trading.

OTOH, MMORPG producers have pretty consistently ignored the sale of items / characters via 3rd parties. Or at least they've not been diligent enough about stamping it out and keeping it to a dull rumble.

A large MMO has actually been very proactive in stopping EULA-violating activity. Some companies just seem to care more than others about currency/item trading.

Square-Enix? Making something open and helpful to customers? Certainly you're joking!

But as far as Square-Enix is concerned, they already have something like this: the Linkshell Community, one of the crappiest community sites I've ever witnessed. (Note the server dropdown on the linked page. Pull it up. It's not sorted at all, making it more difficult than necessary to find the server you play on. Also note the complete lack of forums and other personal pages and anything else that might help build a community. Better than nothing, I guess.)

I can't for the life of me figure out why they don't allow the game to be run in a window or to be ALT-TAB away from. Apparently they think it improves the game's security. The 7,500 accounts banned for using cheat tools seems to suggest that it isn't working.

Square-Enix? Making something open and helpful to customers? Certainly you're joking!

But as far as Square-Enix is concerned, they already have something like this: the Linkshell Community, one of the crappiest community sites I've ever witnessed. (Note the server dropdown on the linked page. Pull it up. It's not sorted at all, making it more difficult than necessary to find the server you play on. Also note the complete lack of forums and other personal pages and anything else that might help build a community. Better than nothing, I guess.)

I can't for the life of me figure out why they don't allow the game to be run in a window or to be ALT-TAB away from. Apparently they think it improves the game's security. The 7,500 accounts banned for using cheat tools seems to suggest that it isn't working.

Bullshit. They were announcing subscriber numbers every four months or so up until Chains of Promathia shipped, while they were at the top of SirBruce's chart. Then WoW comes out. And they completely stopped posting figures.

From the census itself:

There are over 500,000 players logging in to FINAL FANTASY XI from all over the world, with the main player base located in Japan, North America, and Europe.

Square-Enix is a company. They want to make their games look popular to sell more accounts. FFXI has settled into a decent subscriber number, but it's unlikely to grow from there unless they actually do something to enhance the game for the next-gen consoles and PCs and bring it past the PS2 era. I like FFXI's world and backstory far better than WoW's, but the PC client is just painful to use - a good two and a half years after the US PC release.

I'm glad to see that they're finally doing something to develop a community by releasing the Linkshell Community website (ooo, Struts!), but Square-Enix almost completely nonresponsive to their player community.

FFXI remains a game that seems to have so much potential, only to have Square-Enix just not quite achieve it. It annoys me. It has the potential to be so much better, and it just isn't. (Which isn't to say it's a bad game, just that it could be better.)

Honestly, when I first started playing WoW, I couldn't help but think "wow, I hope Square-Enix learns some lessons from this about the fun parts and moves them into a new Final Fantasy MMORPG." I quit WoW ages ago, but I still subscribe to FFXI...

Bullshit. They were announcing subscriber numbers every four months or so up until Chains of Promathia shipped, while they were at the top of SirBruce's chart. Then WoW comes out. And they completely stopped posting figures.

From the census itself:

There are over 500,000 players logging in to FINAL FANTASY XI from all over the world, with the main player base located in Japan, North America, and Europe.

Square-Enix is a company. They want to make their games look popular to sell more accounts. FFXI has settled into a decent subscriber number, but it's unlikely to grow from there unless they actually do something to enhance the game for the next-gen consoles and PCs and bring it past the PS2 era. I like FFXI's world and backstory far better than WoW's, but the PC client is just painful to use - a good two and a half years after the US PC release.

I'm glad to see that they're finally doing something to develop a community by releasing the Linkshell Community website (ooo, Struts!), but Square-Enix almost completely nonresponsive to their player community.

FFXI remains a game that seems to have so much potential, only to have Square-Enix just not quite achieve it. It annoys me. It has the potential to be so much better, and it just isn't. (Which isn't to say it's a bad game, just that it could be better.)

Honestly, when I first started playing WoW, I couldn't help but think "wow, I hope Square-Enix learns some lessons from this about the fun parts and moves them into a new Final Fantasy MMORPG." I quit WoW ages ago, but I still subscribe to FFXI...

"FINE, LEAVE, BUT DON'T EXPECT FOR ME TO WELCOME YOU BACK LATER!" This is the vibe I got from the fact that they have a policy of deleting characters on inactive accounts after as few as 3 months.

I totally agree with you on that count, it's absolutely retarded that they delete your characters after three months--worse, they don't even actually delete them, they just make them inaccessible to you. That's right, you can in fact call PlayOnline support and have a character reactivated up to three months after it's initially deleted (whether you pushed the button yourself or they automatically did it), so you have a total of six months to reactivate. But wait, there's more! Even though they refuse to restore a character after more than six months, they've run a promotion twice now (it's currently ongoing, even) called Return Home to Vana'diel that will allow you to restore any character. They clearly have the data stored, they just decide arbitrarily to restrict your access to it. Go figure.

Completely killing your PlayOnline registration is something I'd never heard of is even more ridiculous.

They don't actually do this, but their whole PlayOnline system is so confusing I'm not at all surprised some people might think that. The confusing thing is that when you sign up for FFXI, you actually get two accounts: one, your in-game account, is what you'd expect, and the other one is an account with PlayOnline. The PlayOnline account is considered a separate, free account that happens to be required to play FFXI. However, when you cancel FFXI, you're also likely to cancel PlayOnline too, since it's referred to as a "subscription." You can reactivate your PlayOnline account at any time with the original registration details (no need to purchase another copy), but you do get something to the effect of "Your PlayOnline account has been cancelled, yadda yadda" when you try to log in. Like I said, it's totally retarded.

Now, all that being said, I do enjoy FFXI. I've been an off-and-on player since the NA PC release (having played numerous other MMOs like City of Heroes, World of Warcraft, A Tale in the Desert, etc, during the off times) and it does keep me coming back. I'm definitely far from hardcore--my highest job is level 67--and I wouldn't play it without my friends, but it does offer a much more compelling group dynamic than any of the other MMOs I've played. Unfortunately, that means its solo game is essentially non-existent, and it definitely shows its age after four years on the market without any substantial engine changes, not to mention the fact that its control scheme on the PC is essentially mapping your keyboard to a controller (it's actually a reasonable layout, once you get used to it, but don't expect, well, any mouse use). In the end, whether or not you enjoy FFXI depends heavily on your personality and the people you play it with. Ideally, you'd start with five like-minded friends whose playstyles happen to map into a nice party setup (ha!); in that case, I'd say it's the perfect MMO.

Okay, I'm done laughing at that last sentence now.

Yup, there's no MMORPGs for the XBox360.

Oh. Wait. You seem to be forgetting THIS ONE

Now, if you mean that none have been developed -specifically- for the XBOX360, you're absolutely correct. But there IS an MMO on the XBox. And yes, there's bunches of people playing it.

IGE = RMT, which is not the Devil

I wish he would speak for himself! RMT has almost destroyed the economy of FFXI to the point where you have to buy in game currency (gil) in order to afford anything of even moderate worth. This was due to the RMT gil sellers dominance and monopoly over entire mines, harvesting and logging areas, notorious monsters, etc. Only recently that SE has banned 700 accounts and seized over 300 billion gil have things been normalizing. This was done in early Feb and prices are still dropping, slowly but surely, on most commodity items.

RMT has real effects on MMORPGs, some games more than others depending on how the economy works.

The 360 was already launched with the beta ffxi 360 version, we may probably never know if it helped alot or not however.

Also, the expansion comes out worldwide (ok, just Japan, US and Europe as far as i'm aware) on the 18th of April, not the 30th.

FFXI's servers are FAR, FAR more stable than WoW's.

Tell that to the suckers playing on "Bahamut" who apparently have had server problems for two days in a row. And that's a nice long list of server flaws that S-E has been having. (To their credit, they're much more up-front about it than Blizzard is.)

Besides that time almost a year ago when SE was having DDoS attacks from China

There were no DDOS attacks. Yes, S-E claimed there were, but as far as anyone was able to determine, they just had server problems and blamed it on a DDOS. There was the time they got blocked by an ISP for requiring people to connect over the mail TCP port, though, which was their own stupidity biting them. WoW has never had an outage as long as that one.

Not to mention, WoW's server problems are essentially related to having more subscribers than FFXI has ever had in each individual region, all trying to access the servers all at once. If FFXI was trying to handle 1-2 million people (which WoW has in a single region) they'd be running into the same problems too. FFXI has a max server population of about 4,000 based on previous server splits. WoW has a max server population of somewhere around 10,000 (assuming equal distribution, dump everyone in one zone, things go south).

FFXI is cross-nation, cross-platform, and cross-language. WoW doesn't even come close to that versatility. Maybe that's why FFXI is thought of first when one thinks "global MMO."

Guess what. WoW is cross-nation, cross-platform, and cross-language. FFXI includes two translations world-wide: Japanese and English. WoW has been translated into English, French, German, Korean, and Chinese - and maybe more, I'm only aware of those translations.

Besides, "cross-platform" support really isn't all that impressive. I learned about hton/ntoh family of functions ages ago, too. Hey, look, you can access Slashdot from a wide variety of platforms too! Amazing!

When it comes to "global MMORPGs" FFXI has only been released in three regions: Japan, North America, and Europe. WoW has been released in North America, Europe, Korea, China, and Taiwan. I'd call WoW a tad more global than FFXI.

Because all I can think about when I think about WoW are stupid fanboys.

Gee, and all I can think about when I think about FFXI are emo-losers who think that they're so cool because they "speak Japanese" at a preschool level. Hey, look, I can make stupid insulting generalizations too!

Oh please. The UI doesn't scale, it stays at the exact same freaking size in pixels at 640x480 as it does at 1280x1024. By that I mean your health bar is still four pixels high at 640x480 and 1280x1024. It's tiny and nearly unreadable.

The font doesn't scale. It's designed to be readable at 640x480. It's tiny at over twice that. (640x2=1280,480x2=960, so 1280x1024 is over four times the area.) Nothing scales! The menu is the same size in pixels. The targeting box is the same size in pixels. The targeting indicator is the same size in pixels. Unfortunately, they're now four times as small in screen real estate. Given how cramped the 640x480 GUI is, that's not always a bad thing - but past a point, it goes past "small enough to be usable" to just plain "small".

Contrast that to WoW, which does scale the UI. The UI takes up the same percentage of the screen at 1024x768 as it does at 1960x1470 - unless you explicitly tell it to scale it to some other size.

You need to have the free version of Live because the hardware requires it. The game attaches to a service completely different from Live, so again why wouldn't the POL viewer?

Gee, I dunno, because you already HAVE the free version of Live, why should you bother with a DUPLICATE SERVICE on top of the service you're ALREADY USING?!!

There's no reason EITHER the PC port or the XBox360 port should be using the "POL viewer". The PC version should ask for your username and password and dump you into the game - exactly like WoW does. The XBox360 version should use your Live account for billing purposes. The POL viewer serves only to waste time and system resources.

As other posters have mentioned, the FFXI control scheme is utter crap. You move using the numpad. The camera is adusted with the arrow keys. There are no hotkeys - pressing a letter starts chatting. (No, Control-Letter key combos don't count as hotkeys.)

The game looks like utter crap on the PC and XBox360. Because the PS2 has severely limited texture memory, almost every area can be described using a single color. (Cities = Gray, Country-side = mint green, cave = moss green, desert = sand.) Players all look identical. There are a total of - not kidding here - 128 different character styles possible. That may sound like a lot, until you realize that 1) some options are extremely popular and appear frequently, and 2) the "birthday paradox" - meaning that the chances of you running into an identical avatar are MUCH higher than 128 sounds. So you wind up seeing the EXACT SAME character avatar for quite a few different people. I remember one group where I was literally playing with three other players using the SAME DAMNED AVATAR I was - except one had blond hair, and I had brown. Feel the customization.

There are valid complaints to be made for every game but you made none of them

Would you rather:
- The controls
- The gold farming
- The inflation
- The grind
- The lousy crafting system
- The language barrier
- The "level limit" quests
- The repetitive enemies
- The repetitive reuse of tile sets
- The extrodinarily long travel times (the "fast" transportation options takes 10+ minutes to travel between locations)
- The repeated grind, due to "subjobs" (congratulations, you've reached level 30, now do it again with the same character on another job!)
- The lousy quest system
- The lousy mission system
- The lousy PlayOnline viewer
- The lousy patch system (here, download 1000 files, if it fails to download one, you have to manually restart the patch process)
- The complete removal of Japanese input for the US version
- The "uninstaller can make Windows unbootable" bug
- The "delete your characters" after leaving for too long - no extended vacations for you!

You want me to go on? There's more.

Of course, with FFXI, instead of waiting 2 hours to sit through a queue, you're waiting 2 hours for PlayOnline to finally finish loading and download the 1000+ file update a file at a time before disconnecting. (Which makes this little bug priceless - if PlayOnline should crash while failing to update, your only recourse is to completely reinstall FFXI!)

I've played both, the queues (which are really on the order of five-ten minutes - long, but not that long) in WoW are nothing compared with the hastles of FFXI. It takes five-ten minutes just to get through PlayOnline, let alone start playing...

Try explaining to your wife that "YES... I KNOW I told you we both could go out for dinner this evening. But that was before I found out the healer (or DD, or puller, or Tank, or whatever) had a flat tire and couldn't make it home in time to level last night, remember? So we postponed it to TONIGHT. Sorry, Honey! Didn't you get the link to the guild calendar I emailed to you?"

I loved the people I played with; such good times. But it created a real juggling act with real-life events. As fun as the game was, it wasn't worth the effort in the long run. I got tired of the overlap, and gave the MMOG world up, last fall. Never looked back. Life is great.

Your experience may vary.

Yes, like the famous Square-Enix game, EverQuest II. Oh, wait, you're just WRONG!

Playonline, is at least now (and i strongly suspect always was) run and hosted by SquareEnix if you go to the site, you'll see only SE products, their name is all over it. It's not sony. http://www.playonline.com/

No, Sony just publishes the PS2 version.

Try looking up PlayOnline to see who runs it. Hmm, http://www.playonline.com/ - that looks promising. And what's that at the bottom?

(C)2002-2006 SQUARE ENIX CO.,LTD. All Rights Reserved.

PlayOnline is Squeenix's take on XBox's Live (which is why you have to use it even on the XBox360). Check out the Japanese PlayOnline site (the US one just takes you to FFXI) - it lists the games they offer.

PlayOnline = Squeenix's version of "XBox Live" minus all the useful stuff (player ratings, voice chat, etc.)

No, Sony just publishes the PS2 version.

Try looking up PlayOnline to see who runs it. Hmm, http://www.playonline.com/ - that looks promising. And what's that at the bottom?

(C)2002-2006 SQUARE ENIX CO.,LTD. All Rights Reserved.

PlayOnline is Squeenix's take on XBox's Live (which is why you have to use it even on the XBox360). Check out the Japanese PlayOnline site (the US one just takes you to FFXI) - it lists the games they offer.

PlayOnline = Squeenix's version of "XBox Live" minus all the useful stuff (player ratings, voice chat, etc.)

Sony - EQ, EQ2, SWG (and I think they support FFXI)

FFXI is basically Squeenix. BUT, the PS2 version is published through Sony, so you're not completely wrong. (Although to my understanding, Sony doesn't collect any money from subscription fees.)

Squeenix ALSO supports EQ2 (but not EQ) in Japan, and to my understanding DOES collect money from Japanese subscription fees for EQ2. HOWEVER, they don't do SWG or EQ.

It's all screwed up. Squeenix definitely wants to be an MMORPG company, that's what PlayOnline is all about, but they've yet to release any really popular MMORPGs outside of Japan. (The US site takes you directly to FFXI, so check out the Japanese site for a list of MMORPGs they support.)

FFXI is really a Squeenix game, although Squeenix is basically confined to Japan when it comes to popular MMORPGs. FFXI had moderate success outside Japan, but none of the other games they're developing are likely to be released outside of Japan, making Squeenix kinda a niche-player, although Japan isn't a bad niche to have.

Sony - EQ, EQ2, SWG (and I think they support FFXI)

FFXI is basically Squeenix. BUT, the PS2 version is published through Sony, so you're not completely wrong. (Although to my understanding, Sony doesn't collect any money from subscription fees.)

Squeenix ALSO supports EQ2 (but not EQ) in Japan, and to my understanding DOES collect money from Japanese subscription fees for EQ2. HOWEVER, they don't do SWG or EQ.

It's all screwed up. Squeenix definitely wants to be an MMORPG company, that's what PlayOnline is all about, but they've yet to release any really popular MMORPGs outside of Japan. (The US site takes you directly to FFXI, so check out the Japanese site for a list of MMORPGs they support.)

FFXI is really a Squeenix game, although Squeenix is basically confined to Japan when it comes to popular MMORPGs. FFXI had moderate success outside Japan, but none of the other games they're developing are likely to be released outside of Japan, making Squeenix kinda a niche-player, although Japan isn't a bad niche to have.

you know I play both FFXI and WoW and to me the cartoonish stuff of WoW looks worse than FFXI.

FFXI screenshot vs WoW screenshot

I rest my case. I suppose if you're color blind, FFXI might look better, but anyone who actually sees color will notice that FFXI's world is all done in what looks like watercolor - it's all washed out. (Not surprisingly, it's really hard to see that in the screenshots Squeenix posted, but the areas all look the same. Including your precious CoP areas, they looked just like existing areas.)

As a expantion CoP was excellent, but you had to be a good player which was the best part.

Um, no. When COP came out, it was nearly impossible to beat the first mission. They've since heavily nerfed it. When the expansion was released, it took an 18-man raid to get to the 6-man final boss. You also had to farm a rare drop from the harder monsters in the starting area with the raid. They proceeded to nerf the hell out of it in the following patches, so now it's doable by a single group of 6. But I didn't care by that point, because the infinitely superior WoW had come out by then.

I have a feeling your the same AC troll who always trolls these FFXI posts am I right? Well I proved you wrong the first 80 times you commented so why dont you go troll WoW players or something.

WoW just hit 5 million subscribers. FFXI is down to what, 300,000? I don't recall anyone ever managing to suggest FFXI has ever had any up sides, but I think the subscription numbers speak for themselves: FFXI is a dieing MMORPG, and WoW is exceeding all previous MMORPG subscription rates.

The numbers don't lie. No one I know who played FFXI is willing to play it ever again, if for no other reason than the economy has been totally destroyed and, unlike Blizzard, Squeenix refuses to create new servers to allow people to start in a new world without a destroyed economy. There is quite literally nothing good in FFXI, I can't name a single feature of that game I'd ever like to see repeated. The only reason - and I do mean ONLY reason - anyone is willing to play that crime against gaming is because of the name "Final Fantasy" - otherwise, no one would ever play it. Admit it: that's the only reason you play it.

Wow, Final Fantasy XII isn't even out yet, and they're already planning an expansion!? (I took the liberty of correcting your subject in my reply.)

http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/ahturhgan/index.h tml

"Missing plugin, click here to install" - well, fuck that, then!

Also the mapmaker for CoP is the head programer for this one so expect even more areas to be much more expansive than the original maps were.

Oh, goody, I can't wait to see what impossible mission you have to complete before getting access to the new expansion areas in that case!

COP was the worst expansion pack for any MMORPG when they released, until Sony out did them with SWG.

Squeenix needs to get their head out of their asses and just drop PS2 support and move on to the XBox360. The game looks like ass on modern PCs and consoles, and there's really no excuse for that other than supporting the ancient PS2. Some day they may even allow the PC version to operate in windowed mode without breaking their TOS. While they're at it, they could also take the opertunity to kill PlayOnline since it's just a great big hurdle in the way of even playing the damned thing.

Not that it matters, since as the vast majority of comments to this story prove, no one gives two shits about Final Fantasy any more. Squaresoft succeeded into running into the ground, and Enix needs to realize that they always did create the superior games anyway (even if they weren't as popular).

At least 2 possibly 3-4 new jobs are being added as well as a whole new continent with a lot of old FF staples like Imps and Lamias. Also the mapmaker for CoP (which IMHO has some of the most beautiful areas, much better than the original or zilart expantions) is the head programer for this one so expect even more areas to be much more expansive than the original maps where, since this guy knows how to push the PS2 platform.

I am a LONG time fan of square, from back in the days of the original nes final fantasy games up though the "Secret of XXXXXXX" games and even up to FF7, but recently they have been pissing off a lot of long time fans such as myself by implementing dumb ideas like this. It seems that they are running out of ideas. Crystal Chronicals when compared to such gems as Chrono Trigger looks like they arent even trying anymore. There is no more story, there is no more feeling for the characters, there is no more fun. Just empty shells of what could have been really great games.

I'm not saying you're a troll, but I wonder exactly what you're talking about here. Specifically, what "dumb idea like this" you're referring to. Also the sanity of the article in question.

First, assuming you're referring to FFXI when you mean either "dumb ideas like this" or "there is no more story," this is far from true. FFXI has a very deep and long-running storyline; the fact it takes a lot of work to experience may turn off a lot of people, but no one is demanding they play it, either. In fact, I warn most people away from FFXI unless they have time to dedicate.

But the story is just about as Final-Fantasy-esque as they come. (There is even Cid!) I will not spoil it (and indeed I don't know a good bit of it, having not yet played all the way through it), but there is far, far more than your typical MMO, involving multiple large story arcs. Both current expansions (Rise of the Zilart and Chains of Promathia), as well as the upcoming Treasures of Aht Urhgan, are for the most part story additions, consisting of a large number of new missions.

While the game is obviously adapted toward a large multiplayer world, you still have all the typical Final Fantasy bits you'd expect, like riding chocobos, fighting large critters, summoning familiar faces, and going to weird magical worlds to save the planet. But you do it with your friends, and you are the characters that experience the story. (Given the fact FF1 and FF3 had "you" as the characters, not predefined roles, this not something unusual to the series.)

But it takes a major time dedication. This is not something you will finish in 50-100 hours. This is for people who want to have the time they spend now still paying off after a year, two years, three years down the road. (Although you will be "into" the game in a much shorter period of time.) It's not for everyone.

On the issue of PlayOnline, having used POL on a regular basis (being a FFXI player since the PS2 release), I can say (along with many who have played it since the PC beta) that POL is very nice. This is one benefit of "some companies" to leave the online handling to publishers; when they need an integrated multiplatform framework, they're not locked in by the platform.

The article basically boils down to "waah, this UI is just like the PS2 version!" What do they expect? The interface provides uniform features to two other platforms. Unless Microsoft wants to provide its Live functionality to other platforms, only exclusive titles are going to use it. This is something XBOX fans had better get used to.

Additionally, it's somewhat humorous to note the complaint about 6GB of space taken up for the hdd image. The X360 drive is suprisingly small... even the PS2 HDD is 40GB, and the FFXI image there (which loads completely and requires no disc) is 12-16GB now with all the expansions loaded. Yes, this is a big game. Don't complain to Square about having a lot of content, complain to Microsoft about having restrictively small media.

I play FFXI, you insensitive clod.

Seriously though, set it up as one of your "Communities."

Well actually FFXI is coming to the 360, so I guess they worked out how PlayOnline and XBL are going to get along. I don't think there are current plans for voice support though.

Anyway, I think Sony is hurting themselves a bit by not at least having a central service as an option or hub if you will. I think it's more likely that they simply haven't had the time to plan and test such a service thanks to Microsoft forcing the move to a new generation of hardware earlier than Sony would have liked given the money that the PS2 continues to bring in for them.

I've never had a problem with Customer Support in the half dozen or so times I've contacted them. Some people feel like saying no when asked to restore an item that "my little brother sold" is bad CS. I personally feel like it's good CS. Players are also *much* more demanding of game CS than they are of CS in non-game related areas. Ever swear at a phone support rep from basically any company? They'll politely inform you they're going to hang up, you can call again when you can be civil. CS staff for games get sworn at incessantly, language to make my grandmother cry. They also also regularly attempted to be defrauded, "I had uber item 01, now it's gone" "Says here, you traded it to a guild mate 20 seconds before you opened your petition" "not uh!"

When my ISP (Roadrunner) service is interrupted, even briefly, due to a known issue that is THIER fault, I can call in to CS and get credited for the time on my bill. It's usually a few cents of course, but they will credit me. In the neighborhood I used to live in, the service was horrible all the time. I complained several times, and finally they replaced damn near everything leading up to my house, and credited me for 2 months free.

Now, take a look at this page: http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/polnews/list_mnt. shtml

I play Final Fantasy XI. I play 0-4 hours a day, average maybe 1 hour. The amount of problems is getting increasingly ludicrous... When I called CS, finally, I was civil and polite (although noticeably angry) and they refused to credit me a penny.

"We don't give any reimbursements or credits, it's in the license agreement [in section blah blah]." the CS guy told me(paraphrase) like I would be happy to hear it. Oh yeah, great....

Am I really that unreasonable? Technical problems are to be expected, but almost every day? To those who will say they would go broke: Roadrunner will only credit you if you call and whine. It seems to me that MMORPG companies need to learn a lesson in customer service. Treat your customers like junkies, and you will end up with only a few junkies for customers.

Grim Fandago

Oh, what a fabulous game.

if the games industry would make games worth playing

I agree. Now that the average gamer has the income to support the gaming habit, I don't think this "Gorilla" will hurt the industry.

In fact, I'm have been a VERY devoted FFXI fan since the US release. I have a 60+ character (much harder to level then WOW.) I maintained my account when WOW came out. I dealt with all of the server issues that WOW had at launch, but I stuck with it. I now have two max level characters (60 in WOW, but you can solo easily), but I'm bored. It is a very pretty game, but in the end it is shallow.

Sure, you can start new characters, try different allegiances. But I ended up going back to FFXI.

In the meantime, I've purchased EXCELLENT games such as Resident Evil 4, GTA:SA, Battlefield 2. All on different platforms, no monthly fee.

Afterall, I need a game to play while they perform maintenance.

I'm beginning to think it isn't. I'm sure everyone here has heard of World of Warcraft. It was supposed to be casual friendly and managed to succeed fairly well at it - for the first 35 levels or so. Some time around level 40 it reverts to the "grind XP" model and once you hit end-game, it's back to EverQuest-style raids.

The problem is that World of Warcraft is ultimately starting to alienate both hardcore gamers, who rushed through the content and are now bored, and casual gamers, who are just now starting to finish the content and are now discovering that they're getting bored too. A proper setup needs to somehow balance both casual gamers and hardcore gamers.

Final Fantasy XI had an interesting system set up originally that could have made it casual friendly and allowing hardcore to have fun too, by allowing casual players to play one job and hardcore players to play several jobs (on the same toon) thereby allowing hardcore players to get more rewards than casual - but not sufficiently more to be completely overpowering. Except FFXI made soloing impossible (no, Beastmaster doesn't count, because you have to have grouped to get it in the first place), and that concept was totally defeated when they raised the level cap from 50 and started adding end-game pseudo-raid content.

Ultimately, you have to find some way to allow both casual and hardcore players to succeed, or else both are going to get bored and leave. WoW is an interesting case-study in that - it'll be interesting to see how the next several months go as more and more casual players reach level 60.

Yes, but not a FF MMORPG; FFXII will be single-player. The new SE MMORPG is called "Fantasy Earth: The Ring of Dominion": http://www.playonline.com/fe/

It's planned for release this year in Japan. No plans for an NA release has been announced yet. According to SE, it will include "strategy" elements; your guess as to what this means is as good as mine.

Chris Mattern

http://www.mmogchart.com/

last valid datapoint (550k) was before WoW came out.. however:
http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/event/survey/02ma in_job.html

suggests that there are still around 500k accounts active in the game, as of March.

what this means is, until WoW came along, FF11 was one of *the largest* MMOs in the world (behind RO, Seal, Lineage, L2, and a few other korean MMOs that count subscribers in different ways).

It might've been an underwhelming experience to play (level downs, annoying mechanics, huge amounts of downtime when rezzing, etc) but the game itself was an overwhelming success.

Too bad the PC version looks almost entirely like the PS2 version, except on a VGA monitor, so you can really see how low-res everything is.

Apparently the best I can do for a screenshot page is their Vana'diel Wind page. The textures are all very low-res by PC standards, not to mention that they're very flat and colorless (apparently another PS2 limitation).

The XBox 360 news had made me hope that maybe they were going to update the game to make it look less like a muddy watercolor painting, but unfortunately, that will not be the case.

They also won't be fixing the absolutely horrendous PC client either.

I can live with the sub-par graphics, but the PC client is enough to ensure I'm never going to play FFXI until they fix it.

Three years old. (From the teaser to this article it says "On May 16, FINAL FANTASY XI celebrates 3 years of service since its launch in Japan!")

Year and half from the US release, but the game is three years old, and it really shows in how crappy it is.

By the time its ready for the XBox360, it'll be almost four years old.

So, yeah. Big frikken deal. The XBox360 will have a four year old game ported to it.

Three years old. (From the teaser to this article it says "On May 16, FINAL FANTASY XI celebrates 3 years of service since its launch in Japan!")

Year and half from the US release, but the game is three years old, and it really shows in how crappy it is.

By the time its ready for the XBox360, it'll be almost four years old.

So, yeah. Big frikken deal. The XBox360 will have a four year old game ported to it.

It's on the front page of their website. Stop playing the game and read for a bit.

They're planning on dumping the new xbox players on the existing servers, if you read the article.

It sounds like there will be a graphics update at the same time, which will hopefully be ported to the PC too.